Hartford Schools To Consider New Management For SAND School

HARTFORD — The city board of education will consider three new school plans proposed as part of Sheff v. O'Neill negotiations, including a state request to have SAND Elementary School managed by a nonprofit educational organization.

That group, Capital Preparatory Schools Inc., is led by Capital Prep Magnet School Principal Steve Perry. Under the proposal, which is set for a board vote Tuesday night, Perry's organization would manage both SAND and Capital Prep schools beginning in the 2014-15 school year.

Two new magnet programs for the Hartford school system would also be established under the proposed settlement that the state Department of Education has negotiated with Sheff plaintiffs in the longstanding desegregation case, according to the district.

High School Inc., a finance and insurance academy in downtown Hartford, would accept ninth-grade magnet students starting in 2014-15, and expand the magnet program to 12th grade by 2017-18.

Another plan involves creating a magnet school in partnership with Capital Community College "for 11th and 12th grade students to access early college opportunities," the district stated.

A board approval would endorse those magnet programs and allow Superintendent Christina Kishimoto to negotiate a memorandum of understanding with Perry's group to manage SAND and Capital Prep. Current students could stay at SAND, which would remain a Hartford public school but have outside management.

SAND, on Main Street a half mile from Capital Prep, is referred to as "Capital Preparatory School II" in the agenda item for Tuesday's 5:30 p.m. board meeting at Rawson School.

Jonathan Pelto, a local blogger and former Democratic state legislator, has sharply criticized Perry in recent weeks and characterized the proposal as part of "Perry's plan for domination."

Perry is listed in state corporation records as president of Capital Preparatory Schools Inc., a company he registered in February 2012. Perry has sought to replicate the Capital Prep school model, which has a social justice theme, for more than a year.

Perry, a blunt critic of teachers' unions, often travels the country to speak about his "no nonsense" approach to education. Under the proposal, Perry said Monday, SAND employees would still be union members but would work under unique labor rules created for the school. Capital Prep, for example, has a year-round schedule.

"The district has spent generations attempting to correct the school," Perry said of SAND. "It has not been corrected. There is an opportunity now. The district and its leadership see an opportunity to build on a successful model that has served as an inspiration for people throughout the country and world. Why wouldn't we?"

Michael Fryar, 45, a former employee at Capital Prep Magnet School, said Monday that he recently filed a complaint with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities over his alleged treatment at Capital Prep.

Fryar, a long-term substitute who taught creative writing to the school's elementary students, said he was fired Nov. 8, only weeks after he formally complained to the district and state that he was denied professional development opportunities and given low evaluation scores "with no factual basis."

Fryar criticized Perry's leadership and described an environment of low teacher morale. He also questioned Capital Prep's disciplinary practices, including instances in which students ran up and down the school's stairs as an apparent form of punishment, Fryar said.

City schools spokesman David Medina said the district would not comment on Fryar's allegations because of "pending litigation." Perry, who declined to comment on much of Fryar's remarks, denied that morale is low.

A one-year extension of the Sheff settlement was signed this spring and gives the state until June 30, 2014, to meet integration goals. Negotiations between the state and Sheff plaintiffs have been ongoing as they try to reach a new deal for the 2014-15 year.